A network element usually comprises a manageably logical entity uniting one or more physical devices which is embedded in a telecommunication network, e.g. a conventional or mobile telephone network, TCP/IP data networks, Internet and the like. Typical examples for network elements are transceiver stations, network controllers, routers, server, telephone exchanges and the like. Conventional network elements can be remote-controlled over the telecommunication network, e.g. a router interconnecting several computer networks can be configured by a client application on a computer over the computer network. In this way, remotely controlled reconfigurations of the network element are also performed. Furthermore, remote controlled changes and updates of encryption certificates, e.g. providing encrypted tunnel connections using SSL (Secure Socket Layer), TLS (Transport Layer Security) or IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) connections, are possible.
Disadvantageously, conventional network elements do not take any measures after a (remotely controlled) configuration change or certificate update regarding whether a reconnect to the network is possible or not. The result is that if the configuration change or the certificate update was incorrect the network element is no longer reachable over the network. Such incorrect changes cannot be undone by remote control. Solving problems that arise with incorrect re-configurations requires a site visit at the place of the network element by a service technician who restores the previous configuration or brings the network element into service, which is an expensive and time consuming procedure.